Sports racket

Abstract

A sports racket having a stringed playing surface wherein selected ends of individual string segments meet the frame alternately in front of or behind the plane of the playing surface.

We claim: 
     
       1. A sports racket, comprising: a peripheral frame having tip, heel, and side portions disposed in and about a central plane of symmetry; said tip, heel, and side portions having a width in a direction perpendicular to said plane of symmetry;   a handle with a grip thereon extending from and secured to the heel of said frame;   a first plurality of string segments extending across said central plane between opposite locations of said frame in a first direction;   a second plurality of string segments extending across said central plane between opposed locations of said frame in a second direction;   said first and second direction being at an angle with respect to each other, and said first and second plurality of string segments being interwoven into a planar webbing defining a ball contact area in said central plane within said frame;   each of said string segments having two ends, a first of said ends extending in a first direction between the periphery of said contact area and a proximate location on said frame, and the second of said ends extending between the opposite side of the periphery of said ball contact area to a proximate location on said frame in a direction opposite to said first direction;   where at least said first ends of at least said first plurality of string segments are secured to said frame at a distance d i , where d i  is the perpendicular distance between the central plane and the location on said frame to which the ith string end is secured, i designating the order of the ith string end in the sequence of adjacent first string ends of said first plurality of string segments, the distance d i  being alternately measured in opposite directions from said central plane, and where said distance d i  varies between a minimum distance for the first and last string ends in said sequence and a maximum distance for a string end between said first and last string ends in said sequence.   
     
     
       2. The sports racket of claim 1 further defined in that said first and second plurality of string segments comprise (a plurality of) longitudinal strings extending between the tip and the heel portions of said frame and (a plurality of) lateral strings extending between the side portions of said frame. 
     
     
       3. The sports racket of claim 2, wherein said ends of said string segments which were alternately secured to said frame at locations at a distance d i  in front of and behind said plane are the ends of lateral string segments. 
     
     
       4. The sports racket of claim 3 wherein the number of longitudinal strings is even. 
     
     
       5. The sports racket of claim 1, wherein d i  is up to about 1/2 inch. 
     
     
       6. The sports racket of claim 1, wherein the width of said frame is up to about the width of said handle. 
     
     
       7. The sports racket of claim 1, wherein the spacing between string segments is greater near the frame than in the center. 
     
     
       8. The sports racket of claim 1, wherein said string segments are comprised of metal wire. 
     
     
       9. The sports racket of claim 8, wherein said wire is coated. 
     
     
       10. The sports racket of claim 9, wherein said wire is multifilament wire. 
     
     
       11. The sports racket of claim 1, wherein the lateral string segments are formed from one continuous string and the longitudinal segments are formed from another continuous string. 
     
     
       12. The sports racket of claim 11, wherein said lateral string segments and said longitudinal string segments are individually tensioned. 
     
     
       13. The sports racket of claim 1, wherein the string segments are individually anchored and tensioned. 
     
     
       14. A sports racket comprising: a peripheral frame having tip, heel, and side portions disposed in and about a central plane of symmetry, said tip, heel, and side portions of said frame having a width in a direction perpendicular to said central plane of symmetry, said width at a given place of the periphery of said frame being greater than twice a distance d i  ;   a handle with a grip thereon extending from and secured to the heel of said frame;   a plurality of an even number of longitudinal string segments extending between the tip and heel portions of said frame, and a plurality of lateral string segments extending between the side portions of said frame, said string segments being interwoven to define a ball contact playing surface lying generally in said central plane within a region defined by said peripheral frame;   each of said lateral string segments having end sections extending from the periphery of said playing surface to a location on said frame a distance d i  perpendicularly from said central plane alternately in front of and behind said plane for successive adjacent ends;   wherein said distance d i  perpendicularly from said plane of symmetry to the location the side portions of said frame to which an end of the ith lateral string is secured varies continuously between minimums as small as about zero for the ends of lateral strings near the tip and heel portions of said frame, and a maximum of up to about 1/2-inch for the ends of lateral string segments near the center of said side portions of said frame.   
     
     
       15. The sports racket of claim 14, wherein the width of the side portions of said frame are up to about the width of said handle, having a maximum width near the center of said side portion, with said width gradually diminishing toward said tip and heel portions in conformity with the decreasing magnitude of d i .